Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Hi Lenora,
This isn't a printable.  It's on-line only.  So, grab your bear and head for the computer.  Enjoy!

Alison

I FINALLY have my nose making tutorial on-line.  There is a $15 subscription fee which gets you 1 year of unlimited access to the 122 page on-line booket.  I hope to have more on-line tutorials up and running soon!

Bear hugs!

Alison

I am looking for a piece of antique mohair to cover an antique piano stool.  I would prefer dark red but would be interested in gold or greens as well.  I've had this stool for quite some time.  My daughter used to have to sit on it to play piano.  It's name is Lumpy!  My daughter has a nice new adjustable bench so Lumpy's been sitting around for a few years.  I think it's time to restore him to his former splendor.  If you have a piece of antique mohair that you are willing to part with, please email.

Thank you!
Alison

I have a kittty pattern for sale on my website that was designed by Janice Woodard. 
http://www.teddybearmohair.com/index.ph … t&Itemid=1
I'm sure Intercal probably has one too.

Hugs,
Alison
www.teddybearmohair.com

I'm the odd ball!  No big surprise there.    I used to always place the eyes first.  However, the past several years, I have taken to embroidering the nose first.   The reason I do this is that use some of the floss used to create the mouth to do a little needle sculpting.  I leave 2 really long ends of floss when I start my nose.  These become the mouth.  When putting the mouth in, I use that extra floss to go back an forth to the eye area to create a socket and it also pulls the mouth in.  Then, I place the eyes and ears are always last.  I don't feel like you can get the ears in the right place without having the eyes to judge off of. 

Hugs,
Alison

Cindy,
We have apple trees in the yard and Dooley (I think I might have got the name to stick) has found the fallen apple blossoms.  He found a weed in our grass that he seems to prefer so I told the family not to pull it.  Plus, we've been feeding him spinach and carrot tops from our garden.  Our game and fish department has a great information on the care of these guys.  We just need to get him big enough to live at mom's.  I've heard many positive things about keeping desert tortoises as pets.  But, I still wish he could live in the wild.  Sorry about your Big Guy.  I guess these animals really become part of the family because they live so long.

Hugs,
Alison

We are still undecided on a name for our tortoise.  But, I did get confirmation from our game and fish department that this is definitely a desert tortoise.  We will have to go through steps to legally adopt him/her.  When you adopt a desert tortoise, you are not the owner, just the care taker and you must agree to surrender the tortoise if you leave Arizona or can no longer provide a home.  I think that we should do like Joanne does with some of her bears and name it after a city in Arizona.  We'll see how that goes over with my son! 

Hugs,
Alison

Congratulations to you.  Your daughters are beautiful!

Hugs,
Alison

Lisa,
I'm laughing because I am just not a reptile kind of gal.  But this little hatchling is too cute and just melted my heart.  The wrinkly little neck, everything about it, I find adorable.  I find myself going to check on it every 15 minutes like it's a newborn baby.  Here I am at the pet store with 101 questions for the reptile specialist who was trying to assure me that it would be fine.  Never owning a pet of this sort, I'm a bit worried that I might kill it.  I'm going to let my son read this post so he can see the name suggestions.  I told him that if he wants a unisex name, we can always call him/her Pat. 

Hugs,
Alison

Hello,
Just wanted to share a picture of our newest family member.  I have broken my rule of, no reptile pets, and we now have a hatchling tortoise.  A boy in my son's class brought this cute little fellow to  school in a plastic bowl.  : (  He found the tortoise in his yard.  We believe it is a desert tortoise, although it is hard to tell when they are young.  Once removed from its natural habitat and  handled by humans, they must be kept in captivity and cared for its entire life.  I'm a little sad about that, but we hope to make him/her as happy as we can.  The tortoise spent a lot of time trying to get out of the terrarium.    I don't think I was ever meant to have a pet in a cage, it's really hard to deal with.  Fortunately, when it is big enough to live outside, it will have a large outdoor habitat on my mom's desert property.  We don't have a name yet.  I want to name him Dooley, my son doesn't like that.  We're looking for  a unisex name since you cannot tell the sex of a tortoise until they are about 15 years old.  I prefer something Celtic or Gaelic in origin to go with my dogs names, Darra & Dolan.  Any suggestions??? 

~ Alison

Congratulations!  Hugs to you and your family! :hug:
Alison

Nancy,
Oh my, I can see why you have switched to dolls.  You obviously have a real talent for making them.  What amazing faces.  However, I'm almost certain that a doll or two might need a teddy every now and again, pairing the two would be doubly wonderful.  Good luck on your new venture and make sure that you send us your blog info when you're up and running.

Hugs,
Alison

Laura Lynn,
Honestly, I had no idea what you were talking about so I went to your website and saw Cadbury.  YOU COPYCAT! I'm sure you did just think of the idea when you saw the chocolate bunnies.  Isn't it natural for all of us to see things and say to ourselves, I could make that out of mohair?  I do it all the time.  I don't hold a patent on mohair chocolate bunnies.  Yours is so different, you must have bought the good chocolate.  I just bought the cheap stuff.  In fact, I like your bunny much better than mine.  I thought I was being brilliant with my Valentine's bear with the inset heart only to find out another artist makes them and did WAY before me.  All I can say is that GREAT minds think alike. 

Hugs,
Alison

Since I'm just getting started on Facebook, I decided to do a giveaway for my Facebook Fans.  I made another of my comical chocolate bunnies that I designed last Easter to give away.  You just have to become an eTeddys Facebook Fan to be entered.  The winner will be picked on Monday, March 29, by a random number selection.  Just follow this link to become a fan. 
http://www.facebook.com/pages/eTeddys/361938301845

Hugs!

Alison

Glad you're enjoying the tutorials.       In anyone has problems accessing them, please let me know.  We're trying to get the kinks worked out of the system!

Hugs,
Alison

Yes, I work on my bears whenever I'm going to the doctor or taking the kids to an appointment.  I usually just bring a head and work on embroidering the nose.  Since I make bigger bears, it's the easiest.  But, I have had deadlines and have brought entire HUGE bears to appointments.  I get strange looks and sometimes questions.  I remember one time when my daughter was getting her wisdom teeth removed, I brought a bear to work on.  One of the office staff has been given an antique bear from her friends collection when she passed away.  So, we really had something to chat about.  I made sure to bring her a bear magazine when we came to the follow up appointment. 

Hugs,
Alison

I finished another free tutorial today on Fairy Wings.  You can access it from my website the same way as the wired ear tutorial.  Tomororw, I plan on sewing!  I can't sit at the computer another day.  Again, please let me know if you find any typos or other mistakes. 

Hugs,
Alison

Gijzette,
Thanks for the heads up!  I was wondering where step five went.  I just clicked the wrong book to upload that page to. 

Hugs,
Alison

Paula,
You clicked the arrow to automatically flip the pages.  There is a pause button if you need more time.  Or, you can click the arrow just one to the right of center to flip the pages manually.  I hope users can figure out the buttons.  I can just picture frantic bear makers trying to finish the step before the page automatically turns.      I didn't want to do the tutorials as a down loadable pdf. and found this plug in that works with Joomla which is what I use for my website.  I already have some ideas to make it more readable.  No fancy fonts in the next tutorial and larger pictures.  But, I made it through the first one!

Hugs,
Alison

Hello,
I've been working for what seems like a century on getting some on-line tutorials up and running on my website.  I have finally learned enough and have a FREE test tutorial up and running.  It does require that you register for my website to access the tutorial, but there is no charge.  Just click on the "free tutorials" button to get started. 

I thought that since spring is finally here and lots of artists, including myself, are making bunnies, I should put my Wired Ears Tutorial on first.  I hope that you all will take the time to go through the tutorial.  Please send me your comments.  This is our test and we need to know if you encounter any problems. 

Hugs!

Alison

Wow, what a perfect little guy!  Lucky you, a new baby in the family to spoil.

Hugs,
Alison

I have to say, your bears put a smile on my face but I really fell in love with Baby Fae!  And the goblins are wonderful, Cyril is my favorite of the 3 you have listed.  What a face he has!

~ Alison

Paypal enacted this quite some time ago.  I never had a problem with it until I started a new account for my mohair sales.  I always ship when the buyer has made the payment, the money does show in your account, you just cannot access it yet.  Paypal currently has over $200 of mine in their clutches.   Paypal claims this is to protect the buyer while you build a reputation.  It's really just a way for paypal to make money off of your money.  But, that's the rules and if you want to use paypal, you have to play the game.  Do not be wary of shipping your item, you will get the money.

Hugs,
Alison

Thanks everyone!

Hugs,
Alison

Here is my latest creation, a white rabbit named Chloe.  She is available on eBay.

Hugs,
Alison